Union Minister of State in the PMO, Jitendra Singh today said that youths of Jammu and Kashmir have immense talent and need adequate opportunities to prove their potential.
"It is a strange contradiction, that most of the youths from this state who move to other parts of the country, do exceedingly well and make a distinct mark in their respective fields, whereas back home, their talent goes unnoticed or underutilised," Singh said while addressing a youth interaction programme "Anuvartan" here.
"Youths from Jammu and Kashmir have tremendous talent but lack adequate opportunities," he said.
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Whether it was medicine or engineering, civil services or journalism, cinema or art, the youths from the state were second to none, Singh said.
"With the coming of Multi-National Companies (MNCs), our boys and girls are occupying high positions as executives," he said, adding the time has come to find answers to this contradiction.
"Is this because, for too long, we have got conditioned to depend on government jobs but with the passage of time, on the one hand youth unemployment has increased while on the other, government employability has become less and less supportive," he said.
Singh said that he has done a small exercise to identify young achievers from the state in different parts of the country and was trying to work out a mechanism to utilise the experience and resources of these young achievers to help and guide the aspirants.
Stressing on the need for skill development depending upon the requirement, the Minister cited the Skill Development Programme in land surveys and mapping he had initiated for the youths from Doda district since it had employment opportunities at hydro-electric and other projects in the region.
He also offered to lend resources, services and cooperation in whatever capacity possible to help the promising youth from the state to groom themselves in their respective skill or talent.
Stressing that India is soon going to be the youngest nation of the world with over 70 per cent of its population below the age of 35 years, Singh said, "This implies that India will be the youth reservoir or youth resource pool for the rest of the world."
"Even the most developed nations of the world would seek services of Indian youth because of the limited strength of their own youth potential," the Minister said.
Futuristic approach, therefore, expects those living in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-Eastern states to prepare and become essential members of emerging India's youth reservoir which would be a stepping stone for the country to be a world power, he said.
